


The Beginning of Something New

by Flareuk



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-02
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-26 17:59:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3859576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flareuk/pseuds/Flareuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bright Summer's day is turned into a nightmare, followed by something new.</p><p>Noncanon</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unpredicted

**Author's Note:**

> This is an alternate universe that currently takes place in the future after the episode "Reformed"

The beach is in chaos.

The Crystal Gems looked on fearfully, the four of them squeezed tight against one another at the base of the house looking towards the sea. A gruesome image of a 6 armed green monster had began to emerge from the ocean, accompanied by a tsunami of water. Malachite had finally freed herself from the depth of the waters, and emerged on a bright summer's day that had been passing by casually. The sun reflected off of her white, fanged teeth and glistened on her green skin. A monstrous bellow had gushed past her lips, cackling. Two eyes were blinking rapidly adjusting to the light after being underwater for so long, while the bottom two appeared to be shut tight. She finally came waist deep out of the water and locked onto the group of gems on the beach.

"Garnet what do we do?" squeaked Pearl.

"Stand firm and summon your weapons, Steven, stay behind us." responded Garnet in a firm voice.

Steven stepped back from where he was standing in front of Garnet and re positioned himself so that he could see Garnet Amethyst and Pearl all summoning their weapons from behind. 

Garnet's the first to lunge at the beast.

Garnet sends a powerful gauntlet uppercut to Malachite's chin, but Malachite counters by slapping Garnet away. As Garnet whizzes through the air back towards Steven, Pearl started to circle Malachite, shooting weak blasts from her spear to distract her. As Malachite was buffeted from the blasts, Amethyst strapped her first whip around Malachite's left arm and summoned a second whip and attached it to Malachite's right arm. Amethyst had prepared to launch ner fire whip attack but before she could, Malachite yanked the whips toward her, bringing Amethyst along with it.

"Is this all you got, runt?" Malachite exclaimed as she punched Amethyst into the sand. 

"Amethyst!" Pearl screeched, rushing towards the crater in the beach. Amethyst hadn't retreated to her gem, but she was staggering to get up. As Pearl turned around to face Malachite, a water hand slammed her forcefully sideways. 

Steven looked on in horror as he saw the people he loved get attacked. Garnet lunged back in front of Steven and launched her gauntlet rockets towards Malachite's face. They landed with a direct hit but hadn't done much damage at all.

Amethyst and Pearl returned to Garnet and Steven to regroup. Malachite started advancing towards the team, her two open eyes glaring at them summoning giant masses of water.

"How are we going to beat her?" qualmed Pearl

"We need to beat her with our own fusion," Garnet began to explain, " Alexandrite is out of the question, since somebody needs to make sure Steven isn't attacked by one of the water pillars. I don't think Opal would be of much help since the both of you are pretty damaged so I'm not sure how long she would last. That just leaves us with Sugilite." The name sent a chill down Pearl's spine but she nodded her head.

"Pearl, I promise it won't be like last time," Amethyst said, " I'll focus more seriously this time in our dance and I'm sure Sugilite will turn out different than before."

"Alright! I'll protect Steven, then." Pearl agreed

"Synchronize..." Garnet began.

The dance started, the three gems began to glow, but was interrupted by a crashing wave.

"IM RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW!" laughed Malachite, bringing back her left arm from the attack. She pulled her right arm to the front of her torso, the ocean reacting with it, bringing forth a familiar set of chains.

The shackles were hurled towards Garnet and Amethyst. Amethyst whipped the oncoming chains away after quickly summoning her whip. Garnet grabbed Steven and Pearl and leaped to safety, leaving Amethyst to fend off the chains.

"Amethyst needs our help!" Steven cried.

"Steven.." Garnet began, as she was looking over at Amethyst, watching Amethyst carefully as she was whipping away the oncoming chains.

She was at a loss for words

"I'll distract her." Proclaimed Pearl. "Steven is strong enough to protect himself, he has his bubble and shield, he should be fine. Besides, I'm strong enough to hold her off long enough for the dance."

"Pearl, don't do anything too drastic." Garnet said. "Good luck."

Garnet jumped over to Amethyst, who was looking exhausted, now whipping back the chains with two whips.

Garnet then used her gauntlet rockets again, but aimed at the sand in front of Malachite to blind her. Once the sand blinded Malachite, Amethyst took the oppurtunity to roll out to a secluded part of the beach covered in rocks, shortly followed by Garnet. When Malachite was able to see again, she was greeted with Pearl, encircled with holographic versions of herself.

"Fight me you foul atrocity." Pearl declared, summoning her spear again.

"This'll be no problem," Jasper thought, " I can break this twig quickly."

Back in the middle of the beach, Steven was frozen stiff.

"Why is Lapis attacking us?" He thought. " I thought we were friends, why would she..." He trailed off mid thought as he looked at Malachite battling Pearl and the Holo-Pearls. 

"ROAAAARRR!" A ferocious scream came from the far end of the beach

"Get off of my beach!" Sugilite said, tromping over to Malachite, stepping over a defeated Pearl using her spear as a cane. Pearl was aided by Steven, who formed his bubble around the two of them and rolled her to safety.

"Pearl," Steven murmured, looking down at her exhausted figure.

He licked his hand and pressed it up against her gem in an effort to heal her, but it didn't appear to have any affect.

"Owwwggggh, I'm sorry Pearl, I haven't been able to help at all today, you guys are trying so hard and I can't even heal you."

"Steven, don't worry," Pearl panted, beginning to recompose herself. "You're doing all you can" she finished, looking over at Sugilite and Malachite bashing each other near the shore. Malachite had been pushed to summon her golden orange crash helmet to ward off Sugilite's wrecking ball.

Sugilite missed once with her wrecking ball but that's the only opening Malachite needed. She Chained Sugilite lightning quick and skull bashed her right in the forehead. 

The purple giant was split with a poof and all that was left was a crater with two worn out figures in the pit of it.

"Garnet, Amethyst!" Steven screamed, lowering his bubble. Malachite turned towards Steven and Pearl and began to crawl over as fast as her four leg arms would scurry her.

Steven's gut suddenly weighed a thousand pounds as She approached, Pearl sticking close to Steven, but standing in front of him now.

Malachite began to raise her hand when she completely froze. She felt herself splitting down the middle, and down through her arms and to her fingertips. She poofed, into her seperate gems. once the smoke cleared, Peridot's image could be seen, holding a gem destabilizer. 

The two gems dropped on the sand, sparkling in the sunlight.

Before anybody could react, Steven rushed over to the teardrop shaped gem that housed Lapis Lazuli, One of his precious friends that he held close to his heart.


	2. Jubilation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events that begin to take place after the beach Brawl.

"Everything is moving dizzying quick," thought Lapis's conscience contained within her beautiful Blue Tear Drop shaped gem. She was finally able to think without having Jasper's mind invading hers, battling for control, keeping her mute and locked up. 

"I'm finally free. No second mind invading my privacy, my thoughts are my own again, I can finally relax."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With Lapis still gripped tight in his hand, Steven began taking a few steps towards Peridot.

"Where did you come from, why did you help us?" Steven blurted out sheepishly.

Peridot's expression had changed from her war face to a more relaxed one, beginning to open her mouth when she was prematurely cut off.

"What ARE you doing here?!" Pearl demanded raising her spear a bit high past her waist. She glanced back and forth from Steven standing in the sand in front of Peridot, Peridot's face, and the shimmering orange pointy edged gem that is harboring Japser's physical form for the moment. She dissipated her spear and started to half limp towards Steven. She looked Peridot in the eyes, only feet away. Pearl let out a relieved sigh and bent over to pick up Jasper's gem. She scowled at the orange crystal as she bubbled it to the temple. That problem was solved.

Pearl pondered for a moment after Jasper was sent to the temple. "Why did Peridot reveal herself after we had been searching for her for months? Why did she betray her comrade?" she shook her head as Garnet and Amethyst resurfaced back to the front of her mind.

"Whatever you're thinking," Peridot began, a trying to look calming look on her face, "I'm not trying to threaten you, as you can tell by what I have just done." Peridot started out cool and strong but had shakily finished the last couple words and looked away from Pearl. She realized that Pearl wasn't listening but was instead beginning to walk over to the crater that was holding Garnet and Amethyst.

Pearl cautiously looked over the ridge, glad to see what she had found. Garnet and Amethyst had looked up as they heard Pearl crying with joy, the both of them also beginning to show signs of relief. 

Garnet and Amethyst were just exhausted from forming Sugilite

Peridot and Steven ran over to where Pearl was standing. Pearl finally decided to address Peridot.

"... Thank you Peridot... for, uh..... helping us," Pearl faltered, "but why exactly did you help?"

"While being trapped on this planet it gave me time to think. It had also given me time to reevaluate everything that I've been told throughout my existence." Peridot finished 

A few moments of awkward silence had passed before Garnet climbed up out of the hole. She staggered onto her feet and re positioned her shades.

"Peridot," She panted looking down on the green gem. Peridot gulped and stood her ground, though breaking eye contact, " You helped us defeat an enemy that that we were incapable of defeating in our current situation, I would like to thank you personally." She reached out her hand to Peridot, who was bubbling on the inside, as well as blushing a little darker green on the outside.

Peridot looked down at her hand, examining her fingers, then looked right at Garnet, and Garnet chuckled a little. Garnet grabbed Peridot's wrist and shook it instead.

"I was wondering something," Peridot closed her eyes and prepared to blurt out the rest of her sentence, " I was wondering if I could join your team!" Peridot found her face pointing down towards her feet."

Garnet looked as blank as ever. Steven started to get excited at the thought of a new crystal gem and squeezed onto Lapis Lazuli. Pearl looked baffled by the question and looked over at Peridot, who was still facing the ground, her eyes squeezed shut beneath her visor and her lips trembling. She then looked at Garnet one last time before her blank expression took over a more leader like and powerful jawline.

"Peridot, I appreciate what you've done today, and would be accepting of your becoming of a crystal gem but first we must get to know you a little better. You can come and stay with us over the next couple of weeks so that we can get to learn about you. After that, I may consider you to become an honorary crystal gem."

Peridot was satisfied with this answer, although now she knew that she would have to prove herself. She changed the yellow diamond symbol on her outfit to just a blank spot. SHe couldn't be rejected now, because now she was all alone on her own.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Mhhhmmm, it feels so warm and cozy." Lapis thought, she could feel a pulsating aura throughout her being. She couldn't describe it specifically, but it felt familiar. She stopped thinking again and just drifted, losing all of her worries in the wonderful feeling that was comforting her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter's a little short, I've got a lot planned for chapter three though.


	3. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot hangs out with Steven and the Crystal Gems

It was exactly seven days after Malachite had been defeated.

Peridot had been allowed into the house part of the temple, which she had come to find very odd looking. It was a mix of human housing and old fashioned gem magic. She observed that the temple was alot more complex on the inside than it had appeared on the outside. She had found herself comfortable at sitting on one of the stools around the sand bar, moving to stand a little farther away when one of the gems came to sit near her. She was happy to be there, but not quite used to them yet.

"So, uhhh, Peridot... how have you been feeling today?" was one of Pearl's most favorite phrases towards her, always receiving a reply of 

"I've been here like always," which at first had sounded a little rude to Pearl in the beginning but she was starting to grow accustomed to it, greeting her every morning.

Peridot enjoyed watching the gems interacting when they weren't in the inner sanctums of the temple. She found that she had enjoyed Amethyst's personality the most, a loud live life personality that she admired. Normally Peridot would just sit in amazement at the amount of sass that Amethyst would dish out to the other gems, whereas whenever Peridot would think of something similar to say to Jasper on board the ship, she just kept it to herself. Amethyst would notice this and feel fueled to keep up her shenanigans whenever she walked by Peridot sitting on the stool. 

"Hey Pearl, I need you for a second!"

"What is it now Amethyst?"

"I have an important question." 

"Well spit it out."

"Where on Earth did you see somebody with your caliber of a nose, cuz i sure haven't seen one yet."

"AMETHYST THAT IS SO UNCALLED FOR!"

Peridot had also come to know of a real human, Connie. She really didn't pay her much attention to her though, since all Connie did was sit up in Steven's room with him and give Peridot sideways glances every once in a while. She could feel herself becoming more at ease around the inhabitants of the temple, and had also started to communicate more with Steven after about 10 days of her staying there.

"So what was homeworld like?" Steven asked innocently, pulling one of the chairs next to Peridot and sitting down on top of it, holding onto Lapis Lazuli's gem in both hands.

"It was tremendously more technological than your house." She replied, adding in a bit of an exaggerated pronunciation of tremendous.

"Oh, is that why you can form a screen with your fingers? Doesn't it hurt at all?" 

"I guess you could say that I'm more technological, my purpose to being made was to perform maintenance and create technology and supplies. And no, I dont really feel anything when I form a screen because my fingers are already detached, if you haven't noticed." She had replied with pride, flattered that Steven had taken an interest in her personally.

"Can I do that too?" Steven had immediately asked, getting starry eyed.

"I'm actually not too sure, its just one of my special abilities that I have."

"Oh, so you mean how like Amethyst can Spin Dash and shoot fire from her whips?"

Peridot hadn't actually seen the fire whips in action, but she did see the Spin Dash he was talking about through Jasper and Amethyst, when she was hiding near the lighthouse, watching the Malachite battle take place.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

She knew that she was taking her time with her regeneration, but she really didn't have any reason to reform, well, other than the chance of seeing Steven again.  
She let her consciousness drift again, now thinking of all the animals she saw in the ocean.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________

It had been a month since the Malachite battle had taken place.

Steven always had Lapis Lazuli's gem with him, except for when he used the bathroom, when he would gently put her down on the table near the couch.

Peridot had become more friendly with the gems, even going on three missions with them, which were fairly recent.

There were times when the gems would send Steven and Peridot out of the temple, where they would walk around the boardwalk, talking about past adventures. Peridot, whenever she found herself talking about homeworld, would always feel as though there were a presence watching over her, weighing down on the back of her head, neck, and shoulders. She would also feel as though Jasper were aware of her presence in the temple, after Peridot had curiously looked into the Burning room when Garnet walked in their once with a bright purple gem. 

Other times, they would talk about their favorite past times, which would end with Steven taking Peridot to some wacky place that she found peculiar but decided that she could like it. Except for eating, she didn't like that, although she did like the smell of it.

"Steven," Peridot had began to ask while they were out at the Big Donut one evening, " Why do you carry Lapis's gem around with you?"

" I like to think that she can feel me in there, and feel like its safe to come out, and maybe she can live with us like you are when she comes back. It would be so much fun! Just imagine all the beachy times we could all have together, and then Connie could formally meet her, and then we could all be one big fat happy family!"

Peridot didn't really see why he wanted Lapis to meet Connie all that much, since she always seemed a little intimidated her whenever she would come over to hang with Steven and her. To Connie's defense though, she wasa warming up to Peridot, Peridot surprised to find that Connie could comprehend all the magical gem occurrences.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

"How long had it been? Where am I even at?" the curiosity was beginning to eat away at Lapis. She was ready to be free at last. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Steven was sitting on his bed, eyeing Lapis's gem hopefully, about a month and a half after Malachite was brought down. GArnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Peridot were all down sitting on the couch, talking about the latest adventure that they had just been on.

"Wow Peridot, you're really starting to get the hang of this." Said Pearl, sounding impressed.

Peridot had sighted a plant looking corrupted gem out on a jungle island. Steven had decided to stay home and hang with Connie that mission, which really served as a bonding experience for the quartet of pure gems. Peridot had uprooted the creature and alerted Garnet, throwing the creature towards her so that she could subdue it. 

"Hey, why don't we see if Peridot can bubble this one!" Amethyst giggled once Garnet had started to bend over.

Garnet had stopped and smiled, standing back up. "Alright, lets see it, I'm sure you're familiar with how the technique is performed."

Garnet was right. Peridot knew how bubbling worked. All you had to do was bubble it, which was the easy part. Then, you had to imagine a location and will it there. She picked up the darker green gem in her own light green bubble. She had it levitating for a minute, as she concentrated intensely on the burning room, where Jasper was held. She pressed the bubbled horizontally inward with both sets of her fingers. The bubble had a little sap sparkle affect as it disappeared.

"WOAH, I didn't think you'd be able to do it, Green P!" Amethyst shouted

"Just because you can't doesn't mean she wouldn't be able to." Pearl chided to Amethyst.

"Hey! I can bubble gems, I just don't feel like it."

"Well then, next monster is yours Amethsyt." Garnet decreed.

"Fine, I will, and you'll all be so amazed that I can do it better than all of you."

Steven had started to poke his head over the ledge of his room so that he could look down at them. He held out he blue gem, suspended in the air in front of him.

He was glad that they were all getting along. Itg made him happy on the inside. He was about to retreat from the ledge to get on his feat so that he could walk down the steps and join them when his hand began to tremble. He looked down at it and gave a joyous, incomprehensible shrill.

"Guys, she's coming!"

The gems on the couch jumped as they saw a lustrous blue teardrop orb floating through the house and suspended itself in the middle of the room.

Steven ran down the steps, tripping on the last few, to meet her when she appeared.

A figure began to form, first it appeared to have a dress but then it disappeared, and began to grow hair on the head. !POP!

Lapis Lazuli fell onto the wooden floor and was helped up by Steven. She had adorned a similar crop top to the one she had before, except this one was blank without a diamond. Instead of her flowing skirt, she wore a simple pair of black shorts that came down a bit above her knees. She opened her eyes and smiled at Steven but lost it when she looked at the four gems standing around her in a circle, surprised that one of them was Peridot.


	4. Clean Slate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet and the gems have a surprise.

"What- Ugh- Why... are you guys.... hawking over me?!" Lapis gasped, getting used to having a body again, especially her own since Malachite.

"Lapis is back! Lapis is back!" Steven shouted, hugging Lapis and swinging her back and forth. Lapis began to smile as she realized the gems weren't standing over her in a threatening manner, but in a more welcoming way. They were giving her space, it just felt cramped because Steven was so close to her. She realized that this was the warmth that she felt inside her gem. She relaxed and hugged Steven back, returning his embrace with equal enthusiasm.

They broke apart and a plethora of questions came tumbling out of Steven's mouth.

"Lapis are you ok? Why didn't you come out earlier? I missed you so much! I kept you with me the whole time! Do you remember the fight on the beach? I saw that all of Malachite's eyes weren't open and blghgghh!" Garnet had covered Steven's mouth once he began to mention Malachite, noticing Lapis's face change rigid and tears welling in her eyes.

"Steven, that's enough questions for now. Let's give Lapis a rest for now and you can talk later."

"Awww, ok, I get it. I'll talk to you in a bit."

Steven walked away and went outside pulling out his phone to call Connie, excitedly telling her the events that she just missed when she had left like 30 minutes ago.  
He walked down to the beach and sat down, exaggerating his movements and making a sandy mess of himself.

"What is she doing here?" Lapis demanded, looking at the green gem Peridot in the eyes. Peridot shuddered a bit, remembering keeping her locked up, following orders, watching her on the sidelines getting shoved into a prison. Lapis was much stronger than her and Jasper. She still didn't know what Lapis was capable of.

"Relax," Garnet started, a little soothingly, "Peridot has been with us for a while, and I'm sure that you have some resentment towards her, but she did separate you from Jasper."

Lapis wasn't aware of this. The last thing she remembered while being Malachite was having constant migraines, fighting back the annoying, intrusive conscience that was Jasper. She slipped and blacked out, and then Jasper was gone from her mind.

Lapis took another look at Peridot and had noticed that her diamond was gone. She was standing on equal footing with Pearl. She was actually looking at her with a bit of sadness and... fear?

Lapis cleared her throat and decided to explain herself. She didn't feel like fighting again. She looked at Steven on the beach and took a deep breath," I only fused with Jasper so that I could trap her the way that she had trapped me." Lapis looked away to the side to begin the next part. " I also did it because I didn't want you to capture me." Lapis stood by what she said and looked back at the gems. She saw that they were looking disappointed in themselves... maybe? She couldn't tell.

Garnet huffed and put a hand on Lapis's shoulder, taking off her shades to look Lapis directly in the eyes.

"Words cannot begin to explain how sorry we are, Lapis." Lapis looked surprised, but kept listening. "We had no idea of who was in the mirror. That's why we attacked. We didn't know what you were capable of doing and we were trying to play it safe. After losing Rose... we couldn't lose Steven." Lapis understood this, whoever Rose was. They were trying to protect Steven, like she had. Lapis started to talk.

"I'm sorry, as well, for our first encounter. I didn't mean to cause any harm, I just didn't want to be trapped again. I swear, I didn't tell Jasper where you guys stayed, she forced it out of me, the gem technology they have is... brutal." Peridot remembered the device that Jasper had threatened Lapis with. It could crush a gem in an instant, painfully so.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was 5 days after Lapis had reformed. She mostly stayed up in Steven's room, not really conversating with the other gems after their heart to heart almost a week ago. She went down to the beach a few times, but didn't stay too long, as she kept thinking of the water as another prison. "Great, that's been taken away from me."

Pearl, noticing the disdain that Lapis now held for the ocean, had decided to cheer her up.

"Lapis, I've got something to show you!" was Pearl's greeting to Lapis as she walked inside from the beach. Pearl pulled out from behind her back the bubbled gem that had once tried to take over Lapis Lazuli's being.

"Why would you show me that." Lapis said bluntly.

"Well, I thought that if... you saw that there was no reason to be afraid of Jasper .... then ... you could look at the ocean without frowning at it."

"Thanks, anyways, for the try, but I don't think that I'll forget what Jasper has done to me. Imagine being trapped as a disgusting hag at the bottom of the sea with another voice stuck in your head that you can't control."

Pearl blushed from embarrassment and sent the bubble back to the burning room with a swirl of her hands. " Sorry , Lapis, I just wanted to help you feel more comfortable around until-"

"Pearl I need you, NOW" Garnet interrupted, with annoyance on her face.

"what was that about?" Lapis thought, watching Pearl and Garnet disappear into the burning room.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Another three days had passed when Garnet had called for Peridot and Lapis, Standing on top of the warp pad with Amethyst and Pearl. Steven came running over with Peridot and Lapis, wanting to see what was going on. The three of them stepped in front of the warp pad and listened.

"We've decided that we would love to have you two join the Crystal Gems, defenders of this planet and all its crreatures!" Pearl recited passionately. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl's gems began to glow, and after the temple rumbled, a new doore had formed on the wall next to the original door, having moved the original door over to the left a couple feet to have room for the new door. There was an empty star emblem on the new door, waiting to be filled in. 

"Harmonize your gems with the door to gain access to your own space in the temple. Peridot looked over at Lapis, both stepping around the warp pad with the three gems on it to get there. Peridot's forehead gem had glowed green, along with Lapis's teardrop gem on her back glowing blue. To there amazement, little colored circles appeared on the door. A dark blue circle occupied the top point of the star, on the inside like the other door's colored circles.. A light green circle appeared on the inside of the star on the upper left point of the star.

"The rooms are going to be blank for now," Amethyst started, "But you can totally fill it with stuff you like, like i did!"

"I don't think they'd want a trash heap in their bedroom." Pearl teased Amethyst, maybe a bit too harshly.

"I least I don't go blurting out surprises that we've been working on for months." Amethyst retorted, looking pleased with her comeback.

"Enough you two," Garnet said forcefully, "This isn't about you, its about our newest members today."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I was just really motivated today so i busted out two chapters, enjoy!


	5. Makeover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis and Peridot create their rooms.

After their symbols had marked the new door, Lapis and Peridot had looked at one another again.

"Sooo, I'm guessing that you'll be wanting to check out your room first." Peridot said jokingly to Lapis.

"Aww, thanks for the kind offer." Lapis shortly replied, followed by her concentrating on the door. Her gem started to glow, as did the blue symbol at the tip of the star. Lapis imagined the door opening with a bubble effect, little circles of the door evaporating like bubbles to open. She took a look inside the huge expanse of white, well, almost huge expanse of white. There was a black hole to the right some ways off on what appeared to be an invisible wall. It wasn't a very big hole but it was there, along with another hole some ways off in the distance on the ground. Lapis looked back over her shoulder at the other gems, and started giggling when she saw Steven's face about to explode with excitement. She looked back at the expanse of white and stepped her foot inside, surprised to feel a floor. She took a few more steps inside and realized that the door was closing behind her. She started to Panic until she heard Garnet's yell.

"To get out just concentrate opening the door again." 

Lapis began to survey the area.

"Now, what would be something that I'd be interested in." She started to concentrate on the room, her gem glowing as she thought. "It'd be wonderful if I could have a piece of the cosmos in here, haha." Lapis started to joke with herself about having a starry galaxy appear in her room, to which she was amazed with the result. The white plane had began to look like a pitch black color was starting to seep through the entire expanse of it. Next a dark purple had began to appear alongside the black, swirling itself in places and disappearing in some. A flash of light had appeared, temporarily blinding Lapis. When she opened her eyes, she was amazed. A miniature blue sun had appeared above her, far off into the expansive galactic sky. It was emanating a blue hue. It felt... comfy to Lapis. She looked beneath her feet and saw even more pitch black and purple vortexes. 

"That looks a little weird, I'll just add some... hmmmmgh." Lapis began to concentrate. She felt herself starting to fall. As she was falling through her own little galaxy, massive blobs of saltwater began to start floating up past her. They were crystal clear with a shimmering blue passing through them from the sun. A particularly large bubble had caught Lapis and she felt the water envelop her. she watched from inside the bubble as it was rising. It came to a halt in what Lapis would think was the center of her room. She began to make herself rise through the water and resurface at the top. She climbed up and began to stand on the large mass of water. She twirled around, examining the area that she had just created. She noticed that off in the distance below her, there was a smaller than usual bubble that had a faint but pretty visible hue of red to it. She decided to ignore it and keep looking around, where she saw another small bubble, except this time it had a hue of white shining throughout it.

Lapis let loose her water wings, ready to test the boundaries of her room. With a big flap of her wings, and push-off from the main bubble, Lapis began to fly. It was a strange feeling that she felt, because for a minute, it felt real. The smell of the water fueling her, the feeling of the cosmos flooding inside of her. She felt like she was home, safe. She flew circles around her room. She passed through a few of her big bubbles, though none of them were as big her grand central bubble. She took in the beauty of it all as she was flying. She looked on in amazement as she had noticed that multicolored stars had began to apparate all around the expanse of space.

"I never even knew a place like this could have existed." Lapis thought to herself about the temple itself. She remembered the red bubble and began to fly her way over there. Once she got close, she hovered and poked her head inside the bubble. what she saw amazed her even further. There was a big heart looking structure in the center of another room, which was glowing red. She decided that that wasn't actually part of her room.

"Off Limits." She thought. Lapis turned around and began to soar through her room once more.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Lapis has been in her room for a while now." Peridot thought, standing in front of the two new member's door. She was intrigued, as she had seen Lapis's symbol glow a couple timeswhile she had been in there.

"Well, are you gonna fix your's up or what, we haven't got all eternity to stand here." Amethyst teased, bringing Peridot to jump a little. 

"I guess I don't have to wait for her to come out first." Peridot realized beginning to blush a little. "I guess I look a bit foolish, now." Peridot groaned in her mind. This is the moment she had been waiting for.

Peridot closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the door. Her gem began to glow green , as did the light green symbol on the upper left point of the star. She imagined the door opening by turning a lime green and translucent, sliding upwards, to which it had done. She was surprised to find a blank room that didn't contain Lapis Lazuli. There was a hole on the left in the distance. Peridot stepped into the white void, the door closing behind her in a similar fashion that it had closed.

"Hmmm, how shall I begin my construction of my living quarters." Peridot talked aloud.

Peridot began with the floor. She plummeted a good 20 feet. Landing on her feet. The room had began to materialize a deep pit with a set of stairs leading up to where the door would be. The "floor" started to take on a glassy green appearance, with glowing yellow tubes beneath it. "Now for the walls." Peridot stretched out her arms, her gem continually glowing since she built the floor. The walls turned to a Black glassy color, with the same glowing yellow tubes behind them. Shelves were beginning to indent themselves into the wall, reaching from the floor of the pit to about 100 feet in the air, which was still a vast white color. She turned to ceiling into a similar design as the floor, except there was a big yellow glowing orb behind the glass, which had branching tubes spreading across the ceiling with the same color. 

"Alright, this is shaping up nicely."

Peridot began to summon a suspended, floating, green crustal chair. It rose like liquid from the glowing tube in the floor. She put the chair back. She liked her room. She formed her holographic interface and linked it with the room. A screen the size of the back wall had appeared. She turned it on and looked at the interface.

"I'll be able to create new machines in here." She thought proud of herself. She looked at her left was in the pit and noticed a doorway. Curious, she walked over to it and stuck her head through it. She didn't like what she had done.

"Aggh, now I'm all wet!" Peridot screeched, pulling her head back into her room."Why is this even in here, I didn't call for thi- oh." peridot stopped pacing around her room dripping and realized that it must be Lapis's room. "I don't understand why she'd want water in her room if we live right next to a beach, oh well. I don't care about how she wasted her room."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

The rest of the crystal gems had decided to sit on the couch and play cards with Steven until the two had decided to come out of their rooms.

They've been playing Go fish for an hour.

"When do you think they'll be done." Amethyst yawned, bored of the repetitive game.

"Any minute now." Garnet confirmed. The door had disintegrated in a bubble pattern and Lapis Lazuli came landing through the doorway, re absorbing her water wings. the door closed behind her and she came over and sat next to Steven. Not too long after, the door turned green and slid upwards, revealing Peridot walking up the steps and through the door. The door closed behind Peridot and she came clonking over. Garnet stood up, putting her cards down on the table, a little too forcefully, from being relieved of not having to play the game anymore." 

"Now, for you two to solidate your becoming a crystal gem, you'll need a star emblem on your clothes." Garnet said, looking first at Peridot and then swiveling her head over to Lapis towards the end, who was still on the couch. Lapis stood up and went over to stand near Peridot in front of Garnet. Lapis's shirt began to glow, a black Star forming in the middle of her crop top in a similar fashion as Steven's. Peridot's chest had also began to glow, a small yellow star forming in the middle of her collar bones at the base of her throat on her top. Her knees had also began to glow, another set of bigger yellow stars forming.

"Perfect." Garnet clapped, smiling.

"What do you think of this, Rose?" Garnet thought on the inside. She was looking at the new crystal gems. "Now Steven has an even bigger family." Garnet finished in her mind, unclasping her hands and letting them fall back to her sides.


	6. Training day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gems train on the beach

"Steven, SHIELD."

Garnet's forceful voice had encouraged Steven. He raised his right arm up to the front of his chest, ready to block the incoming attack.

"Awww, noooooo," Steven began, "now I'm all wet." Steven began to wipe his drenched face. It was a training day. The temperature outside was a nice cool 70 degrees, a perfect day to hone your skills. The gems were all on the beach, Amethyst and Pearl standing on the sidelines, along with Peridot, with Garnet standing in front of the trio. Lapis and Steven were up first, Lapis gladly offering to help Steven use his shield.

"Aww come on Steven, that wasn't even that fast of a blast, I gave you plenty of time to prepare." Lapis joked with him.

"Hey, I bet it wasn't easy for you to learn how to move the whole ocean!" Steven responded, sounding a bit disappointed in himself.

"True, it did take some time, so I'll cut you some slack." Lapis smoothed her shorts and pounded her chest. "We'll just work on dodging, then!" She put herself in a squating position, letting her wings out as she did so. She jumped and began to fly in the air. Steven gulped.

Lapis started first by flying near him, swooping close and prepared to push him over with her arms outstretched. Steven jumped out of the way easily enough, able to avoid this repeated maneuver. 

"Hey Lapis, why don't you kick it up a notch, I'm pretty sure I know how to jump left and right." Lapis grinned. She picked up her flying speed, and accompanies herself with some water jets from the nearby ocean.

"Yeya, now its getting good!" Amethyst chuckled.

"Come on, STEVEN!" Pearl hollered, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Lapis soared high into the sky, ready to divebomb Steven. "I'm going to strike where he is with my body, and the surrounding area with the jets." Lapis thought, counting her four missiles. She started crashing down towards the beach. Steven surveyed what was happening and dove away from Lapis, where he was greeted by a jet. "Ugh, Steven, sorry." Lapis thought with a grimace.

After the smoke cleared from the other jets, Lapis saw that Steven had formed a pink bubble around himself to protect against the blast. Steven let down the buuble and sat in the sand, panting. "Ugh, I need a break, tag out!" Amethyst took Steven's place against Lapis.

"Alright, lets see whatchu got against me, water wings!" Amethyst greeted her, smiling.

"I'll be glad to!" was Lapis's determined reply, flapping her wings as she said it. Amethyst started by summoning her whip, smacking the sand with it. "Lapis deduced that she wouldn't be able to keep a far distance from Amethyst, seeing as the whip had pretty decent reach.

Lapis went in for a flying rush attack, spiraling around the oncoming whip that was lashed at her. Lapis picked up Amethyst and flew high into the sky.

"Hey, ung, that's cheating!" Amethyst struggled, trying to break free from the blue gems tight grasp. "Well, if you're gonna play dirty..." Amethyst started to glow purple as her body began to shape shift. Her alter ego, Purple Puma, was revealed. Puma clasped Lapis's head and pushed it downwards. Lapis was struggling under the weight. Her wings dissipated and they hurtled towards the ground. Puma, remembering that this was just a sparring match, let go and shapeshifted into a bird to catch herself. Lapis was able to restabalize with her wings. The two of them had flown back down to the beach.

"We'll just call this a draw." Amethyst stated, as she morphed back into her natural form.

"Alright then," Garnet announced, "Peridot, let's go." 

"Of course," Peridot thought, lamenting on the inside, "I get paired with the fusion."

Peridot and Garnet stepped into the battle portion of the beach. Peridot lokked over her shoulder and saw Steven drinking a juice pouch, accompanied by Lapis, Amethyst, and Pearl.

Garnet took a step towards Peridot, but not summoning her gauntlets. "Oh, good, maybe I WON'T have to retreat to my gem." Peridot thought, putting herself in a basic fighting stance, her right arm lifted near her face and her left arm down lower, both sets of her floatey fingers directed towards Garnet.

"C'mon, then, summon your weapon!" Garnet said, moving closer to Peridot.

"I can't summon a weapon, I've never needed to, I've never personally had to fight before!" Peridot pleaded, a little fear in her eyes.

Garnet stopped advancing, and put her fists down. "Alright, then, you can learn with Steven."

"Woah, I'm not the only one that needs help!" Steven exclaimed, throwing his empty juice pouch on the beach, to which Pearl scoffed at and picked up. "Lapis, why don't you learn with us too!"

The sudden question had blown Lapis offguard. She was literally stunned by Steven's question.

"Well, first of all, yanking a weapon out of my back wouldn't be too convenient, and second of all, in case you forgot, Steven, I can control water into practically any form that I need it to be." Lapis explained to Steven, kind of rambling at the end.

"But what if there isn't any water around, what would you do then?" Steven pushed on. Lapis started stuttering, causing Pearl and Amethyst to start laughing.

"He gotcha there, Lapis! HaaaHAaaahAAAAA." Amethyst wheeze laughed.

"Alright, starting tomorrow, Steven, Lapis, and Peridot will begin weapon practice tomorrow." Garnet decreed. "But for now, we can take a break, its getting dark outside soon." Garnet finished , pointing at the sun setting. The gems walked into the temple, laughing and joking with eachother on the trail up.


	7. Special Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven gets a special Mission from Pearl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, this chapter was kinda difficult to write.

It was now January in Beach city, snowflakes falling regularly, the temple feeling alot more cozier this winter.

"Yea, today, Peridot let me have a look in her room to see what she's been working on lately, its really cool! You'll have to see it sometime when you are allowed to come over again. Uh, sorry gotta go now, Pearl's calling me, Bye Connie!"

"Steven!" Pearl repeated again as Steven hung up his phone and ran down his steps, his strings from his pink sweatshirt hitting him in the face.

"What is it Pearl?" Steven asked as he approached Pearl at the sandbar, who was accompanied by Lapis and Garnet. Lapis was behind the counter in the kitchen, her arms rested on the surface while Garnet was leaning up against the side of it with her arms crossed.

"We have a very special mission for you," Pearl started, her voice sounding like she was proclaiming a great award, "It's very important, and we're going to trust you with it."

"Cooool, finally I can prove myself!" Steven excitedly announced

Pearl's gem began to glow and a hologram had been produced, the scene changing as she talked, with a crude Steven figure appearing within it. 

"Garnet sensed a magical artifact that is in a location surrounded by mountains. The warp pad should take you to the center, where you can follow paths to find the object. Be warned though, as the site is very old and can contain traps that were set in place to protect the artifact. It looks like a small cube, with the power to control space. We need it so that we can watch guard over it, as it can be a very dangerous weapon. Left unattended for much longer and... We don't know what could happen. Once you find it, Bubble it, WITHOUT touching it, so that Garnet can can receive the bubble in the burning room. Lapis will be flying overhead to make sure you aren't ambushed by any corrupted gems. Does the mission sound clear to you, Steven?"

Steven's eyes were so wide that they couldn't open any further, with a huge smile across his face.

Lapis began to speak up. "Now Steven," Steven blinked and looked at her, " I'm only there to watch, essentially, so I can't scout out the roads and paths for you, so don't ask for help."

"Understood! Oh, wait one minute!" Steven ran back upstairs, grabbing his Cheeseburger backpack, and skillfully opening the zippers that he had grown accustomed to. "Hey Pearl, Is it cold there or no?" Steven shouted from his loft, which was now cluttered with his things."

"Steven, It's the middle of January and there's snow outside what do you think it feels like?"

"Oh, right, I forgot," Steven responded, grabbing his pink heavy coat and throwing it on over his sweatshirt. His head popped out the top and he adjusted his sleeves. He packed some water, food, a blanket, some backup crackers, some shorts and his flip flops, just in case it was actually warm, and a small robonoid that Peridot had given him earlier in the day that was pocket size. He bent over and put his boots on and tucked his jeans into them. He then grabbed the straps of his inflated cheeseburger backpack and squirmed them on over his poofy jacket. He then waddled down the steps and onto the warp pad, where Lapis was waiting.

"Alright special mission, GOOOooooOOO!" Steven exclaimed as Lapis warped the pad, giggling at her companion.

Lapis and Steven were laughing at eachother in the warp stream, striking funny poses while waiting to arrive. The cold air greeted them as they beam turned a darker blue and disappeared as they hit their destination warp pad. It was a snowy area between the mountains that they had come to. Crystals of red and yellow were surrounding the warp pad. 

"Good luck, Steven!" Lapis said, plashing out her wings and soaring into the sky where Steven lost her in the clouds. It was cloudy out, but snow wasn't falling, to which Stevenwas a little thankful for.

"Alright, time to get moving." Steven hiked up his bag and began to waddle down a path that was straight in front of the pad.

"Hmmmm, I wonder if there'll be any other things I can pick up after I bubble the cube thingy." Steven wondered aloud, a finger on his cheek as he began to walk into a cave. 

"Great I didn't bring a flashlight." Steven lamented as the cave began getting darker. The moisture in the cave felt warmer to him than the outside did, which is when he thought of a light alternative.

"I wonder if this will be enough light?" He asked the cave as he lifted up his layers of clothes to reveal his Rose Quartz gem o his belly. The gems have been training him, Peridot, and Lapis over the last two months, to which he was able to learn how to concentrate hard enough to make his gem glow. He was able able to form his Shield on command now, though it was only for a split second. He still relied on his bubble, though, which he had mastered for the most part. 

"Ah! Its does!" Steven joyously exclaimed, his gem illuminating the cave in a pink glow.

"Why don't the other gems do this, its genius!" He had thrown his hands up in exclamation, dropping his clothes back over his gem where the cave went dark again except for under his clothes. He lifted them up again and illuminated the cave once more with the pink glow.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Amethyst came tumbling out of her room that was belonging to the door on the left by the warp pad.

"What up, dudes? How'd you think Steman is doing?" She asked looking back and forth at Garnet and Pearl, with her hands behind her back.

"We're not sure, but we have faith in him, and in Lapis to protect him." Garnet said bluntly, uncrossing her arms and adjusting her shades with her right hand, a flash of light dancing off of them.

"Well, what's old Green Bean up to?" Amethyst changed the subject.

"I'm not sure, actually." Pearl responded, her hand up to her chin. "I'll go knock on her door to see if she's here." With that, Pearl moved away from the sand bar and walked over the warp pad to the door on the right. As she drew nearer to it, she began walking on her toes.

"Peridot!" Pearl started, gingerly patting the door with her knuckles, "Are you in there?"

In the middle of knocking on the door, it had opened, revealing Peridot to be seen sitting down in her green chair. She was turned, facing her blank monitor that was pulled up on the back wall.

"Over here." Peridot turned in her chair as she heard Pearl walking in."Invite the others in too, if you would." Peridot concluded, a look of smugness on her face.

"Ok, Amethyst, Garnet Peridot wanted, oh." The two were already making their way into the room, having been eavesdropping.

"Nice place you got here, Peridot." Amethyst greeted Peridot, putting her arms behind her head again, walking in after Garnet.

Peridot summoned some blobs from the floor, which had formed into three chairs for her guests. They all took a seat next to eachother and looked at Peridot expectantly.

"Now as you all may know, I've been working on a few things lately, and this is one of them." She pulled out her screen and began tapping on it, the big screen on the wall lit up, followed by some noise."

"Earlier today, I had given Steven a small version of a flask robonoid, which has a special purpose, Surveillance. Now, we can watch his journey, if he takes the thing ut of his backpack." They were currently looking at the jumbled mess that was within Steven's bag, accompanied by some muffled singing and self narration.

Pearl leaned forward in her seat. "This is genius! Magnificent Peridot! What made you think to build this device?"

"Well, I just thought that it could be a handy tool to make use of in the future, I decided to test it with Steven, and its going along pretty smoothly if I might add."

"You didn't tell Steven what it actually does, did you?" Garnet had leaned forward in her seat, looking at Peridot, her expression indistinguishable beneath the shades that now had a green tint to them.

"Of course not! Steven wanted it anyways, I offered it to him and he gladly took it, fondling it and calling it a 'Cute lil' baby'. "

Garnet leaned back in the chair and readjusted her shades again. "Alright, I guess we'll watch then." Peridot closed the door to her room and turned up the volume on the monitor.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Steven began to approach the end of the cave. "Ugh, my legs are killing me!" Steven panted.

"I know! I'll just take a quick snack break! I'm sure I'll still get there with plenty of time to spare." Steven slammed down to the ground, letting his gem's glow die out, as the end of the cave was illuminated with the natural light of outside. He whipped off his bag and began to open his big pouch.

"I'll just grab these cracker's here, unh, hang on, oh!" Steven found the baby robonoid. "Oh Yea. I bet you wouldn't want to sit in this cramped bag anymore." Steven said, kissing the robot when he fished speaking. He placed it down in his lap and continued looking for his crackers."Here they are!... oh, they're all broken. Oh well." Steven began to dump the bag of broken cracker's contents into his mouth. 

"MmMMmm, Peanut buttery... ohgmm mmm cha cha." Steven made a big crumby mess around himself, and was finishing up, licking the roof of his mouth. He put the trash in a seperate compartment, the cheese, and zipped his bag up. He picked the robonoid up into his hands and put the bag back on, standing up. He ledt the thing in his hands, palm open, and began walking to the end of the cave.

"WOOOOAAAH." What Steven had found astounded him, as he looked on and saw a little temple. There was green grass growing, this part of the mountain oddly not effected by the weather.

HE walked towards the temple, taking a few steps inside, torches had lit up. "I must be close, so there's bound to be booby traps. He began to walk down the corridor.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ahh, Steven, you're making this difficult!" Lapis said aloud flapping around in the sky. She looked down at the temple, knowing that she'd be umable to see Steven from that point. She decided to pursue him on foot, so she dove down towards the ground and folded in her wings into her gem. She landed with grace, a bit of dust rising around her. She patted her shorts and began to walk into the temple.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Steven had been trekking for a good thirty minutes, keeping his breathing to himself. He came across a few traps, where he just either jumped some string or summoned his bubble to protect himself against darts or fire. He approached a pedestal that had the cube. "This wasn't difficult, just a lot of walking if you ask me."

Steven stepped over to the cube and had carefully bubbled it, He tapped the top abd it was sent back to the temple. Lapis approached him from behind. "NIce work, Steven!" She greeted him with a highfive with his spare hand.

"Thanks. Uh, how do we get back?" Steven asked.

"I thought that we could just bubble eachother, I don't feel to up to flying back to the pad."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that."

They held eachother's hands, after Steven put the robonoid in his pocket. They began to form a pinkish blue bubble around themselves, letting it envelop them. They began to float. They let go of eahother and Steven and Lapis tapped the bubble, warping it to the temple.


	8. Understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gems learn to understand eachother a little better.

Pearl and Amethyst were having a discussion in Pearl's room. They were atop the central waterfall, deep into the discussion.

"Pearl! Why can't you just tell me what Homeworld's like? Why don't you think I can handle the truth? I'm 5000 years old, I'm not a kid like Steven, I can handle it!" Amethyst was getting worked up, stamping her foot whilst talking. "Ever since we met, you've treated me like an inferior person, never treating me like an equal! Why can't you start treating me as an equal now?" Amethyst was fuming. She was beginning to tear up a little. "Is it cuz you don't think I'm good enough? I bet that's It!"

Pearl had a look of genuine despair on her face, contorting with each word that Amethyst had spat.

"Everybody else other than Steven knows what Homeworld is like! Just face it Pearl, You treat me no different than Steven!"

Pearl interlocked her fingers together and looked Amethyst in the eye, sighing before she answered.

"Homeworld isn't a place that you would want to know about, Amethyst. That's why me, Ruby, Sapphire, and Rose left, along with an army of people. We were all scared of Homeworld. Rose saw hope in this planet, and wanted to save it from Homeworld, not wanting its inhabitants to be scared like we were. She cherished the life here, seeing that they were filled with happiness, and she admired that, and that's one of the reasons why she decided to rebel."

Amethyst was listening intently.

"As you know from Garnet, since our last excursion to the Battlefield, Gems were destroyed, many of whom that we had known personally. It was a horrid, disgusting time, seeing gems being ripped apart from eachother, the faint of heart trying to flee, the brutality of the Diamonds... I just don't want you to know about it because it wasn't a great time period, Amethyst. With Peridot and Lapis joining the team now, all we can do is get better for the future and not think about the past."

Amethyst understood, though that wasn't really the answer she was looking for. 

"And Amethyst," Pearl spoke up again, breaking the awkward silence, "I don't think of you any less than Garnet, or think of you the same as Steven, its just, how would I describe it.... oh! A sister! You mean so much to me Amethyst, and I'm so sorry that I can come off picky or abrasive but its because I love you." Pearl was blushing, looking away towards the water beneath her a little. Amethyst was then grabbed in a sudden embrace, lifting her up into the air. She was pulled tightly into Pearl's chest, Amethyst reciprocating the hug. The two began to glow and they began giggling. their forms merged into a giant woman, blonde ponytail falling down past her back. The woman was giggling, just as Amethyst and Pearl had been.

"It feels nice to be Opal, once in a while." The new form and said, still giggling some.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Steven was sleeping up in his bedroom, swaddled in his blankets. Lion was sleeping nearby on a cot of his own. Garnet was off in her room, leaving Peridot and Lapis alone in the sitting area of the temple, sitting on the couch. Lapis was sitting in the center of the couch, while Peridot sat on the end closest to the portal.

"Peridot." Lapis said, bored of the silence between them. they didn't really interact at all, other than their training sessions and during missions. There were questions that were burning in both of their minds.

"Why did you come and separate me and Jasper last summer?"

There was a pause before Peridot had spoken up.

"I was sick of Homeworld, and after observing the Crystal gems for a few months, I decided that I loved their way of life. No standards and categories that you were made into, no pressure of being a failure, no fear of..." Peridot shuddered, just remembering Homeworld.

"Yeah, I guess I see your point about Homeworld. I was only there briefly after flying back when I was taken prisoner. That wasn't the home that I had remembered when I was trapped in that MIRROR." Lapis spat bitterly on the last word. "That still doesn't answer my question as to why you split me and Jasper apart."

"For one, I was sick of Jasper roaming around. It felt like the pressure from Homeworld was still with me. As long as she was around, I wouldn't have been entirely free from the clutches of Homeworld." Peridot answered.

"Now I have a question. Why did you guys attack the beach?"

Lapis gave it some thought. "I didn't attack the beach. Jasper did. I wasn't conscience. Jasper had pushed me back and barred me from consciences. I was sealed off and had zero control over what was happening, I didn't even know she attacked the beach. The only thing I knew after I had regenerated was that she had taken control while still under the sea."

"What are your feelings Lapis, towards the whole situation that you are in?"

"Honestly, I still miss home. I don't think I'll ever not miss it, all I do know is that Homeworld as it is now is not my home. Sure, Earth wouldn't have been my first choice, but my only friend was here. Although, after being here for a while, being able to interact with people, its made me appreciate more my decision to stay." Lapis was smiling now, looking down at the star on her chest. "I feel like I belong to something, you know?"

The two gems began to smile and then went into silence again. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was a needed one. They both needed the time to think about what they had just revealed to eachother, and what they had each said. Lapis laid down on the couch, her head on the armrest, bare feet pointed towards Peridot's end of the couch. Peridot began to slouch alittle, and the had both dozed off into an unneeded sleep.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Steven got up with excitement in his his eyes. He threw off his blankets and leaped down the stairs, falling over the last few and thudding on the floor.

"Lapis I had the best Idea last night! We can go outside, and then you can..." Steven trailed off as he saw Lapis napping on the couch. He decided to tiptoe past, his bare feet clammy on the cold wooden floor. He was past Peridot, who was snoring faintly, and made it to the kitchen. He was starting to get a poptart when Pearl's door had opened, Amethyst and Pearl stepping through it.


	9. Teamwork...?

"Gems, Positions!" came Garnet's command, the crystal gems responding immediately. They were in the mountains for this mission. They were facing a bright yellow, dragon mixed with a Centipede. It had thousands of black insect feet, underneath the scaly serpentine body of a dragon. Its face was that of the centipede, with a yellow and white color to it. It had shimmering wings, large enough to carry the incredibly long creature. Everybody was on board for this mission, even Steven, wearing his pink over jacket. 

Lapis took to the sky with her water wings, summoning her weapon. Through the past few months, she and Peridot had learned how to pull out their weapons skillfully enough to put them to use, whereas Steven still needed work to sustain his Shield. As Lapis rose, her gem began glowing, bending her arm to reach for the gem. A blue glow emitted from it, Lapis taking hold of it. As she reached her favorable altitude, she yanked forth a sword. It had a baby blue tint to the silver blade, a dark blue hit beneath it, a black star on it. The edge of the blade came to a point, the sides being straight.

As Lapis hovered overhead, Pearl and Amethyst flanked the creatures sides, Pearl on the right and Amethyst on the left. GArnet stayed in front of the monster, looking it down, eye to eye, summoning her gauntlets. Peridot fell behind the monster, covering the rear. Pearl summoned her spear and Amethyst summoned her whip, with Peridot beginning to reach for her green gem on her forehead. Her fingers hovered around the gem, a green light flashing around her pointer finger, pulling out a kunai. There was a hole where her finger would go, with a sharp tip and perfect edges. It was in the shape of a stretched out pyramid, colored a vibrant green color, black around the finger slot. Steven was standing behind Garnet.

Peridot began the attack, as practiced. She threw the kunai with enough speed to penetrate into the skin of the creature. It turned around at the pain and looked at Peridot, preparing to fly towards her. As it did, Amethyst wrapped her whip around its torso. Amethyst yanked hard, forcing the creature back towards Garnet, where she prepared a powerful uppercut. The attack lands, sending the beast rocketing upwards at an intense speed. At about 100 feet into the air, Lapis greeted the monster with her sword, driving it into its back, flying downwards back to the area on the mountain where the other gems were. Pearl was up, A strong stance in the ground. Her Spear was raised upwards, ready to finish the monster. Lapis slammed the Dragon-Centipede down towards Pearl, who intercepted it, the both of them piercing the monster until it let out a loud, distorted screech. It writhed for a couple seconds until it poofed, leaving behind a yellow gem in the shape of a square. Amethyst sprinted over and pushed Lapis and Pearl out of the way to get to the gem first. That caused Lapis's concentration to falter and she lost her sword.

"I got this one!" Amethyst yelled, stooping over to pick up the gem. She summoned forth a purple bubble around the target, sending it away by flicking it in the side. The bubble vanished with a few rippling effects. "Now what was that about bubbling the next one, Garnet?" Amethyst gloatingly said, hands over her chest, looking up at GArnet with a smirk as she walked over to the group, followed by Steven. Peridot joined up with the group as well.

"Amethyst, we all knew you could bubble a gem, you're just to lazy to do it." Garnet replied, a dry expression on her face, adjusting her shades.

"Ha haha, Garnet, that is too true! Ha ha, Amethyst! You just got told by the G-squad!" Pearl was splitting with laughter, grabbing her sides, also proud of her comeback to Amethyst that she had once used against her.

"Oh ha ha," was Amethyst's annoyed reply, looking away and shrugging her shoulders, "Well how are we gonna get back to the temple then, huh Pearl, thought of that?"

"We;ll just use the warp pad, like usual." Pearl replied, a little surprised at Amethyst's question. "Right, Garnet?" Pearl asked.

Garnet adjusted her shades. "We trekked an hour to reach this spot, and I don't really feel like going all the way back." She finished, rubbing Steven on the head, giving him a smirk.

"Oh, I know an Idea!" Steven realized. "Stand aside!" He made a parting motion with his two arms starting in front of him, seperating them as they move apart. Pearl and Peridot walked to the left of Steven while Lapis and Amethyst walked to the right of him. "Lioooonnnn!"

A pink portal appeared, ripping through the air. Lion came leaping through, looking for Steven. 

"Hey there, you pink goofball!" Steven greeted him, hopping onto his back. "Commoners, first." He said, gesturing for them to walk through the portal. They did so, and had found themselves on the beach in front of the temple. As Steven and Lion came through, the portal closed. Lion sat down, causing Steven to fall backwards into the sand.

"Ehh, almost had it there, bud." Amethyst chuckled, watching Steven stand up and brush the sand off of him. Lion Pranced away to amuse himself while the gems began walking towards the temple. As they got inside, Garnet being last and closing the door, Steven hurried over to the oven in the kitchen. 

"Oh, I hope it didn't burn!' Steven yelped as he grabbed the pan out of the oven. There was a mess of charred circles in three rows of five.

"Steven, what were you making?" Pearl questioned, pinching her nose at the burnt smell now wafting through the house. Lapis took a seat on the couch, next to Peridot who had already been sitting down, pulling out her screen to catalog the gem that they had defeated.

"I was making cookies, for when Connie came over later. She said she can hang out again since its warming up and her parent's didn't want her getting sick and missing school." Steven responded sadly, trying to scraped the black chars off the pan and onto a plate.

"Why did you put them in before we left?" Pearl started, taking the pan from Steven and throwing the ruined surface into the trash can, "You knew we would be out for a while."

"I don't know how long cookies have to bake!" Steven said defensively, watching Pearl pick up the charred pits off the plate he got out and throwing them in the trash.

"Ughhh, Steven, weren't there instructions? Why didn't you ask for help?" Pearl said, cleaning the rest of the mess and fanning out the kitchen with her arms.

"I wanted to do it by myself, there's no fun in having someone else do it for you." He grumbled, getting on his tip toes to reach a mixing bowl, preparing to make a new batch. "Besides, they're homemade, they don't come with instructions." He put the bowl on the counter and got a whisk out of a drawer.

"Well, at least let me tell you how long they go in for, I don't think Connie would like burnt cookies." Pearl said, starting to smile at Steven, getting a timer. All this talk about cookies were starting to interest Peridot and Lapis, both looking at each other with a puzzled look. Amethyst just jumped down onto the end of the couch, landing upside down. Garnet went over to sit next to Peridot. 

"Uhh, Steven... what exactly are... cookies?" Peridot asked, tucking away her scream and perking up where she sat.

"Remember that sticker you found at the Galaxy warp? They kinda look like that except they taste so much better and don't have creepy human appendages." Amethyst answered almost instantly, turning over in her spot. "Yo Steman, what kind ya makin?"

"These aren't for you, they're for Connie!" Steven said adamantly, breaking an egg on the counter.

"Aww. Connie wouldn't mind, besides, these nerds over here haven't even TRIED a cookie before." Amethyst snorted, pointing over to Lapis and Peridot, who looked away, embarrassed.

"Well, - uh.. I guess I can make more than one batch, Pearl, can you help me?"

Pearl was already masterfully throwing an apron on, perfectly tying the knot. "Of course Steven! Let me just grab some things."

"Wait! I wanna make some, then too!" Amethyst began hollering, a mischievous look on her face, jumping from the couch and cartwheeling over to the kitchen. Lapis got up and followed her, who then was followed by an intrigued Peridot, which left Garnet all by herself on the couch across the room.

"Hold on, everybody." Garnet said, standing up and putting her hands in front of her. She shapeshifted some oven mits on and put on a smile. "You can't start without me."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Thanks, dad, I'll call you when I'm ready to go." Connie gave her dad a hug as she got out of the car near the "Big Donut." He hugged back and closed her door, walking back to his side and getting in. He pointed at his wrist, as if to remind her that she has a curfew that she better call by. He drove away, more focused on the mirrors, watching Connie walk towards the beach. She had decided to wear her overalls and sunshine t-shirt, wearing a clean pair of yellow shoes. She wiped her glasses and kept walking towards the temple. It had been a while since she had last visited, but Steven had called her regularly. Her mom had been real protective of her daughter the past couple of months, since she had discovered Steven's voicemail about a giant floating hand. Connie had just told Steven that it was flue season. She approached the front door and smiled as she began to knock. She politely took a step back and waited until Steven had answered the door.

"Oh! Hey Connie!" Steven exclaimed, his hands in oven mits. He gave her a quick hug and allowed her into the crowded house. What she saw left her speechless. On every counter in the house, a stack of different colored cookies had taken occupancy. They were of many sizes, some looking quite delectable and others looking like mush.

"Wh-what happened?!" Connie stammered, looking at the gems in the kitchen, fighting over who's cookies were the best.

"Your pieces of garbage have nothing on my masterpieces!" Amethyst pronounced at Pearl, whose apron was a disaster.

"Mine are the pinnacle of perfection! Your purple globs don't even compare to my white chocolate- mint cappuccino delicacies!" Pearl shouted back.

"Well then why don't you... Taste test them!" Amethyst forced a purple glob and a delicious cookie into Pearl's face.

"I-I don't need to taste them to know mine are better!" Pearl stepped back away from the cookies, putting her hand up to her mouth. Peridot was organizing a heap of vibrant green and yellow cookies, misshapen and in a more square shape than the other cookies. Lapis was pulling out some hot blue ones, all in different sizes and consistencies. She placed them on the table in the sitting room, with the rest of her cookies that were taking up the entire table. Garnet had a simple pan of chocolate chip cookies that she and Steven had made.

"Would you like a cookie, Connie?" Garnet asked, forcing the pan near Connie's vicinity. 

"Why, thank you Garnet. One can't hurt." She grabbed one of the cookies closest to her on the plan, Garnet smiling that Connie had decided to try one of her cookies first.

"Yea, sorry about all the cookies, Connie. It kinda got out of hand. Steven stammered, scratching the back of his head.

"No, its... Amazing! I've never seen so many! Did you guys use food coloring?" 

"Yes." Came Garnet's reply, nodding over at Lapis's mound and Peridot's perfectly square grouped cookies.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The gems had all gone to their rooms, exhausted from arguing over whose cookies were the best. Connie had been the judge, and had chosen that Amethyst's were pretty tasty, despite their appearance. Connie was sleeping on the couch, a surprise to both her and Steven. Connie's parents had decided to trust their daughter for the night, given she had been couped up all winter. Steven was up sleeping in his bed, cookie crumbs from all the different kinds finding a home in his sheets.


	10. Training, Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gems practice synchronizing their dancing for the fusion technique.

The gems were on the beach, a nice temperature was surrounding them. Garnet dipped Lapis, holding her there for a second before grabbing her by the waist and tossing her up, Lapis twirling in the air. Lapis came down and Garnet caught her hips, stomach facing down. Garnet put her down and Lapis composed herself.

"Nice dancing, Lapis." Garnet told, crossing her arms.

"Well, its not really that hard when you're doing most of the work." She jokingly replied, causing Garnet to smirk. Steven and Pearl were across from them with enough space to perform.

Pearl was twirling Steven, then twirled him close and unraveled his body away from her and held onto his hand. She pulled him in and dipped him backwards, his head only inches from the ground. He started giggling, causing Pearl to drop him.

"Steven, you have to take this seriously!" Came Pearl's voice.

"Aw, lighten up Pearl, when I fused with Connie I was having fun. You're turning it into a chore." Remarked Steven, lifting himself out of the sand.

"And what would you know about chores, mister? You don't clean anything, you don't even put the jelly away when you're done using it."

"That's because I think that I'm gonna put it away after I'm done with the sandwich, but then I don't wanna get my hands sticky and forget about it."

"Steven, you need to learn to help out some." Pearl huffed.

"I thought we were practicing fusing." Came Steven's distraught reply, wanting to get off the subject. "Why can't we do something more like Amethyst and Peridot?" Steven pointed over at the duo, who were apparently "dancing".

Amethyst was brushing by Peridot, rubbing her back and long hair against her. She held out a pointed finger where she was planning on going. She was sliding smoothly across the sand bumping Peridot who was an awkward mess. She was stepping on her own feet and performing the most bizarre dance move. She was alternatively hiking each knee into the air in front of her, accompanied by arm swings to go with the display. Amethyst had been chuckling at her the whole time.

Garnet began to walk over towards her. "Amethyst, let me try to help her."

"Yea, alright, I was done anyways." replied Amethyst, cartwheeling away, chuckling as she rolled near Lapis.

Peridot looked up into Garnet's eyeless shades, not being able to make out her expression. Garnet reached out a palm for Peridot to take hold of. She hesitated before grabbing hold, since it would feel weird to be practicing fusion, with a fusion. "Wouldn't that be invading their privacy?

"Follow my steps." Garnet began to step her feet in rhythm to a tune she was humming, pushing for Peridot to follow her lead. Peridot was a bit uncoordinated at first, but she is intelligent. She soon found herself able to move to the beat quite easily, which Garnet had picked up on. She began to speed it up a little, Peridot keeping in sync. Garnet then pushed Peridot away, keeping a hold on her fingertips, and then rolled herself into Peridot's arms. She lowered herself and began to sway slowly against Peridot's chest, before she stopped humming and turned around. 

"You just need a bit of rhythm, that's all." 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The rest of the day they had practiced the dance of fusion, until the sun had went down. The most elegant dance performed by Lapis and Pearl, whereas the most erratic was Steven and Amethyst, when Amethyst kept shape shifting during their performance. She was scolded by Pearl for improperly teaching Steven, but it really hadn't affected them at all.

They were all in the temple now, Steven sitting in his room watching TV and talking to Connie over the phone simultaneously. Amethyst had raided the fridge before disappearing into her room, balancing a heap of junk food. The rest of the gems had also retreated into their own rooms, resting after the strenuous day, except for Lapis.

Lapis was standing on her main colossal bubble, summoning three water clones of herself.

"Alright!" She pulled out her wings, as did the clones. They all lined up horizontally and took off. She was testing and improving her speed, and some competition could serve her good. She started speed training, mostly out of anger. She wouldn't forget the day she was forced back to Earth. If only she had been faster, Jasper wouldn't have been able to grab her. She gritted her teeth and a surge of adrenaline pulsated through her body. She flew ahead of the water clones, still picking up speed. She continued the training for three more hours, where she plummeted into the green bubble in her room from exhaustion. She felt herself hit a hard floor, surprised at what happened. She realized she was in Peridot's room, seeing Peridot jump from her work table in surprise of the invasion of her privacy. Lapis coughed up a little bit of water while Peridot had rushed over to her. Peridot reached out a hand, but Lapis shook her head and stood up by herself, struggling to do so. Lapis was wobbling a bit, physically exhausted from her entire day of training. Peridot materialized a chair for Lapis to sit in, her gem glowing as she did so. Lapis smiled and took the seat, letting out a sigh of relaxation. Peridot walked back over to what she was working on, not wanting to disturb Lapis and get on her bad side. After a 30 minute rest, Lapis started to speak up.

"How powerful was Jasper? I mean like, In rank on homeworld." Lapis broke the ice, a casual tone to her voice. Peridot replied after a second of thought.

"She wasn't a weak gem, you already know. She had control over her own army, in fact. She was looked upon as a gem that had enormous physical power, as well as a feared figure. She kept people in check, and always wanted to make sure they knew the reason why she was so high in power, which is why she accompanied me to Earth. She could have sent the Army to ensure an easy victory and reestablishment of the kindergarten, but she refused, laughing as she did so. 'With me on the job, we won't need the army, I'm plenty.' I don't know much about her other than that, other than being old enough to have fought in the first war on Earth, where she first started to rise through the ranks."

"I was just curious, since we actually didn't conversate while we were fused, we just fought. A lot."

Peridot really didn't know how to respond to that, so she just gave her some words of encouragement. "Well, we don't have to worry about her anymore, so what else do you wish to talk about?" 

"Mmmmm, howww about, that thing you're working on? What is it?" 

Peridot looked down at the small flat ovular object. "It's going to end up being a communicator. Just in case there is a mission that we need to split, up or regroup, or somebody is in distress, especially for Garnet, going on missions by herself."

"Well, I guess when you're an ultra powerful fusion made of deep rooted love you don't worry about losing cause you're so confident in yourself." Peridot chuckled a little in response to Lapis's Statement. She remembered the song Garnet sang aboard the ship, it rang through the surveillance system that was near the control pad.

"Hey Peridot, do you get a TV signal through that big screen on your wall?"

"No, its merely connected to my personal interface, its purpose just to make my calculations public to the rest of you."

"Well... why don't we go watch TV with Steven?"

Peridot looked down at her device, cleaning it up and smiling. " Sure." The two of them walked out of Peridot's room, only to find thaat the temple was dark, except for a glow coming from Steven's room. They approached the steps and found Lion sleeping by the bed, Steven beginning to wake up from the noise that they were making. Peridot looked over to his television set, which was still on. Steven opened his eyes and realized whi was there, stirring and sitting up in his bed, a groggy smile on his face.

"Hey guys..." Steven yawned, blinking slowly. 

"We can leave, Steven, we'll come back later." Lapis quietly said, turning to go back down the stairs, but was interrupted by Steven's voice.

"Hang on.." Steven shuffled around his bed, moving the blankets with him as he laid on his stomach in front of the TV. He looked at them with excited, but tired eyes. Peridot and Lapis looked at eachother and decided to sit down in front of the bed, Steven's head in the middle of them. They watched some late night programming until Steven had fallen asleep again, thirty minutes later. They had chatted about a few things that they all have done in the past few days, as well as teasing Peridot's dance technique. Steven now had his head rested asleep on Lapis's shoulder, snoring faintly. Lapis was careful as to not disturb him, her and Peridot staying there watching the TV until he woke up a few hours later.


	11. Wailing Stone

_"If you're evil and you're on the rise,_  
you can count on the 6 of us  
taking you down.  
Cuz your'e evil and you'll never beat us,  
We'll complete the quest  
and then go out for Pizza,  
We, are the crystal gems.  
We'll always save the day,  
and if you think we can't,  
we'll try and find a way.  
That's why the people,  
Of planet Earth,  
Believe in, Garnet 'n Amethyst,  
Peridot and Pearl,  
Lapis and Steven!" __

"Steven, what was that about?" Lapis chortled, a hand over her mouth. The gems were all sitting on the couch as Steven had performed his new and revamped song he had come up for the team. He was standing in front of them in the middle of the room. He wiped his forehead to get rid of his nervous sweat, even though he had already previously sang the old version to Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl before.

"Its our song." Garnet said, adjusting her shades. She had put her foot down back on the ground. During his performance, she had her leg up on her other knee and swinging her foot up and down to the song.

Peridot was blushing, glad to have been included in the song. After she had been initiated into the ranks of the crystal gems, she's felt guilty about invading Earth three times. Only faintly, though, these days as she believes that she's really been making contributions to the team. They taught her how to summon a weapon, and in return she's been able to utilize it in battle, since she's unable to use a gem destabilizer on corrupted gems. She also just doesn't feel it would be ok to wield one in front of Garnet.

"Hey Steven, want to go get some fry bits?" Amethyst asked hopping off the couch. She was already heading for the door.

"Wait, I'm coming!" Steven hollered, fumbling with his Ukulele before just putting it on the floor and running out the door to meet Amethyst.

"Oh come on Steven!" Pearl nagged as Steven had closed the door. She got up and picked up the instrument before being interrupted by Peridot.

"Why don't you just hide it if he isn't bothered enough to take care of it?" Peridot asked, bothered by the fact that every time Steven makes a mess, Pearl is the one to clean it up. "Or at least punish him for always leaving a mess."

"Well that is true." Pearl said, walking up the stairs to Steven's room. "But if I didn't clean, this house would be wrecked, and not just because of Steven." Pearl thought of Amethyst during the last bit. Shaking her head just thinking of all the messes she has had to clean through the years.

"Gems, there's trouble." Garnet said, abruptly standing up from where she was sitting. She headed over to the warp pad, followed by Lapis, Peridot, and Pearl. They warped with a beam of light carrying them.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Thanks, Peedee!" Steven yelled over his shoulder, a hand raised in the air. Him and Amethyst had acquired what they had set out to achieve, Amethyst harassing him a bit, shape shifting into Purple Puma and banging on the counter until their food had been delivered. "Let's go see what my dad is doing." Steven said in between bites of food.

"Yea, I haven't seen ol' Gregory in a while." Amethyst replied, already finished with her food. She threw the paper bag on the ground and they started heading towards the car wash.

"Hey dad!" Steven greeted, his dad coming out of his office at the wash. He gave Steven a big hug, lifting him off the ground. He looked over and saw Amethyst, who was pretending to look hurt that he didn't notice her.

"And what do I owe this special surprise?" Greg said, putting Steven down on the ground and looking over at Amethyst. Her face changed into a smile.

"Oh, you know, we were out roaming the streets to join in on any gang activity. The usual." She said nonchalantly.

Greg tilted his head to the side. "Amethyst, all the people in Beach city are sane and wouldn't resort to starting a gang. Besides, this town isn't even big enough for one of those." He thought back to his music career days, passing by street thugs on the way to performances in cities whose names he couldn't remember for the life of him.

"Aww, come on, Greg, you know i'm just kiddin around." Amethyst replied, nudging him in his pudgy side. "Besides, we don't need a gang to get what we want." She pointed over to the bag of frybits Steven was still eating.

"Hey, there's going to be a festival next week, would you and the rest of the gems like to help out or be in it?" Greg asked, looking a little pleadingly.

"eh, I don't know. I _am _a gem warrior, my schedule is usually pretty packed." She replied shrugging her shoulders.__

__"Whaaaaat? Amethyst you gotta! It'll be so much fun! Please? The town would love you!" Steven started pleading, getting down on his knees, dropping his bag of food._ _

__"Uhh, I don't know. That's not really my style." Amethyst turned her head away from his pleading look._ _

__"Please, you get to show off that you're the coolest crystal gem if you do. I promise it will not be a waste of time. Besides, aren't you ageless? It's just one afternoon."_ _

__Amethyst gave in. "Oh, fine. but if it turns out to be a bust, I'm taking over you're room at the temple to make some room for my favorite junk pile."_ _

__They shook on it. The rest of the evening they talked about themes they could do for the car wash's float in the festival._ _

________________________________________________________________________________________________ _

__The warp stream subsided, The four crystal gems stepping off the pad. They were at the magical island where the invisible gem monster had once inhabited. Not too far from the warp pad was a crater. They walked over to it, amazed at what they saw._ _

__"What _is _this machine?" Pearl wondered aloud, looking at the yellow contraption in the crater.___ _

____Peridot was gripped with anxiety upon laying her eyes upon it. It was a current wailing stone, sent from Yellow Diamond._ _ _ _

____Peridot stammered, "It's a current wailing stone, sent from Homeworld." Garnet slid down and picked it up. As soon as she picked it up, a rich voice played._ _ _ _

____"Peridot, Jasper, report back to Homeworld immediately. If you two do not appear within one Earth year, we will be forced to send reinforcements after you. You better hope that we do not need those reinforcements."_ _ _ _

____Pearl had began hyperventilating, grabbing onto Lapis's shoulder._ _ _ _

____"Wow, its nice to know that they weren't worried about me." Lapis had quietly and sassily said. Peridot was frozen in pace, and only watched on as Garnet began to crush the yellow device between her hands._ _ _ _

____"We've got a lot of work to do." Garnet grunted, throwing the destroyed mechanism into the water. Lapis yanked Pearl's crushing hand off of her shoulder and flew over to the warp pad, not wanting to walk back up the crater._ _ _ _

The rest followed Lapis and they warped back to the temple, Steven and Amethyst were still gone.

"Garnet,what do we do?" Pearl cried out to Garnet. Garnet fixed her shades. "We train harder for the next year. And when they come, they'll have to answer to the crystal gems."


	12. Dreams and Pizza

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, sorry for the long wait, I really am! I've just been on vacation and finished with exams and couldn't get the motivation to write but I started back up!

"Pearl, hurry up!" Steven hollered, jogging in place looking back at Pearl who was walking at a pretty decent pace. They were on the boardwalk making their way to Fish Stew Pizza.

"Ugh, the food will still be there no matter how fast you arrive. Honestly, why did we even order 6 Pizzas?"

Steven stopped jogging in place and flung a fist into the air in front of his face and began to count his fingers with each name he was about to list off. "Me, Lapis, Peridot, Garnet, Amethyst, and Lion. See? We have to get 6! Or else itd be unfair, and I know how you despise food in general." They began walking again.

"I do not _despise _food, I just simply don't care for the consumption and biological process of it. Besides, don't you think a whole Pizza to yourself is a bit much?"__

__"Well, I'm not sure. Connie said that she was going to ask if she could spend the night, so I was gonna split mine with her." Steven gave a little excited chuckle. They arrived at the pizza place, Kiki working the counter._ _

__"Hey Kiki!" Steven greeted, putting his hands on the counter and then transitioned to leaning against it with his back. He looked backwards at her. "Six pizzas for pickup please."_ _

__"Steven I don't have an order from you placed."_ _

__"Oh yea, 6 pizzas for pickup under Amethyst, please?" He stopped leaning on the counter and looked at Pearl and then to Kiki._ _

__"Nope, sorry, I don't have any orders placed for tonight, you can still order them now."_ _

__Steven looked at the ground and put a hand to his chin."Amethyst, I can't trust you to work a phone again." He looked back up at Kiki and placed his order. "Ok, I need a sardine and Anchovie pizza, 1 plain cheese, 3 pepperoni, and 1 all meat pizza."_ _

__"Alright, you're gonna have to wait thirty minutes, though."_ _

__Pearl grunted with disbelief. "Amethyst of all the things..."_ _

__\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__The rest of the gems were back at the temple, including Connie, who had just arrived. Connie was having a conversation with Lapis and Garnet over at the sandbar while Amethyst kept meddling with Peridot's hologram pad every time she summoned it. They were both seated on the couch._ _

__"Argggh! Amethyst, do you mind? I'm trying to work on something." Peridot vehemently questioned Amethyst, who was currently shape shifted as a purple cat. Amethyst rolled over onto her back and started purring, before she turned into a crocodile and replied._ _

__"Well, I hope you're working on that attitude of yours, lil missy. Learn how to loosen up, you're not as sophisticated as you try and portay yourself to me. I saw what you did yesterday."_ _

__Peridot flinched at both statements, gasping a little. "What, am I not allowed to swim in the ocean with Steven, Connie, and Lapis?"_ _

__Amethyst turned back into her default form and rolled onto her stomach. "Uh, I wouldn't necessarily call that shameless display, swimming." She began to mimic a drowning and screaming action, followed by a twirling of her right hand and tucking in her feet. She burst out laughing._ _

__"Ooooh, you little sneak! Why were you spying on me?" Peridot blushed. standing up. Lapis and Connie began to giggle from across the room, hearing their argument pick up volume._ _

__"Eh, I was bored, so I looked out the window." Amethyst shrugged and began to lazily kick her feet from her position. Before Peridot could retaliate, they all heard a loud marching outside the door, which then flew open to reveal Steven holding 6 stacked pizza boxes in his arms. He waddled over to the mini table silently, followed by Pearl who had closed the door behind him. Steven calmly put the pizzas down and looked directly at Amethyst._ _

__"Amethyst, WHY DID YOU TELL ME YOU ALREADY ORDERED THE PIZZA WHEN YOU DIDNT?!" Steven yelled._ _

__"OOOOOOOhhh, right, right. I forgot to actually call them. But hey! Now we got Pizzaaahahahaha!" She jumped off the couch and reached for the cheese pizza._ _

__'No! That one's for me and Connie! I got you the meat pizza!" Steven said as he gave Amethyst the meaty one._ _

__"Aww, thanks pal, you know me so well. Eh, sorry about not calling the pizza joint." Amethyst responded. Steven passed out the rest of the pizzas to everybody else. They all stayed up late into the night, sitting around the couch and talking. It was about 3 in the morning when Garnet had told Steven and Connie to go to bed, the other gems having already retreated to their rooms by that point. Lion was sleeping by the foot of Steven's bed already, his face greasy from the pizza he gobbled up. Steven divided his bed in half so that Connie had somewhere comfy to sleep. Connie slept in her own covers that she had brought and Steven slept in his. He fell into a deep sleep not long after swaddling up._ _

__\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

__Steven was in a dream that contained an amusement park. He was riding the rides with Connie, Screaming at the top of his lungs. That dream had transitioned to a pioneer on the road, Peridot his traveling companion. The heat was overbearing, Peridot was dragging behind. Steven looked behind himself, looking for Peridot, but had only saw a black abyss. He looked ahead oh himself, but had found darkness again. He began to float through the empty space. He saw a faint light. He began to float towards it. When the image had come into view, he had found that it was a crater. It sucked him in. He felt himself standing up now. He turned around and saw a familiar figure running towards him. He shrieked and pulled out his shield and surrounded himself with his bubble. He felt a thump against his defense and looked into the deep pair of yellow eyes._ _

__"Ahhh, Jasper, What are you doing in my dream?!" Steven yelped. Jasper stood up as tall as she could go. She wore the same outfit that she had before._ _

__"Rose, Let. Me. OUT!" Jasper took a menacing step forward. Steven felt a shock wave._ _

__"I'm not my mom! Well, kinda. But not entirely, I don't think? My name is Steven."_ _

__"Rggh, I don't care who you are! Just let me out!" Jasper was pulling on her hair, her face in a complete furious meltdown. "I'm not a corrupted monster! I'm Jasper! A fully functional, powerful, commanding gem officer! I am not one to be contained like this!" She punched the ground. There was another tremor._ _

__Steven lowered his bubble and reached towards her. This couldn't have been real. Jasper grabbed Steven's shoulders, causing him to drop his shield. She wasn't squeezing, but she also wasn't gentle._ _

__Steven began to thrash. "Let. Me. Go. Please!" He was dropped to the floor, Jasper walked away a few steps. Another shock wave had rippled through the area._ _

__"Why are you torturing me like this?" Was her question, which came out as a grunt. She looked back at Steven, who was getting up off the floor._ _

__"Well, you did sort of attack us. And frankly, you kinda scare me a little." Came Steven's reply, looking the buff warrior in the eyes._ _

__"You and your friends are traitors to your own kind. And for what? To protect some lowly humans? They're a waste of space and a big pain in my butt. Honestly, I don't see why Rose forsook herself to protect this putrid plan-" She was cut off by Steven's Teary eyed response._ _

__"How would you know that Humans are a waste of time and space. I bet you haven't even talked to a single one. And my mom had seen what Human potential was, and had even sacrificed her life to birth me, Steven Quartz Universe, A part Human! And until you can decide to treat Humans as equals, you will stay in this bubble. And I know its not impossible. Peridot and Lapis had come around, and I would love to say for them that they are enjoying their new lives, as protectors of this planet! I'll see you later, Jasper." Steven floated back up to the opening, and looked down at Jasper, who was kneeling on the floor as he departed._ _

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _

__He woke up with a jolt, a concerned look coming from Connie and a big hug from Pearl. It was noonish, the rest of the gems were surrounding his bed as well._ _

__"Oh Steven!" came Pearls tight embrace. "You were shaking and shouting and writhing around and we couldn't wake you up." She took a deep breath in and let Steven loose a little. "What was going on?"_ _

__Steven sat firm and began to talk. "I was riding rollercoasters with Connie, and then I was pioneering with Peridot, and then I found Jasper. And ot was really her! We were in our own space and, she's really mad. She wants out, but I told her not until she can be understanding of Humans and treat them as Equals." He wiped his eye with the back of a hand._ _

__Garnet messed with his hair. "You did a good job handling this impromptu situation, I;m proud of you."_ _

__Steven yawned and grabbed her hand, Pearl still holding tight onto him. Peridot and Lapis had looked at eachother, and sighed. Connie had put her arms behind her back, until Amethyst had given her a friendly fist to her shoulder, causing the both of them to giggle._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I was already planning on Steven being able to communicate to gems through dreams, I really did, but then Steven Bomb happened and I felt kinda stupid writing this chapter but I did it! I would love to hear some feedback too!


	13. Clusters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot goes for a walk

Peridot had left the temple three hours ago, almost as soon as Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Lapis had left for a mission. Steven had already left the beach house earlier that day, going to the car wash to help brainstorm for the parade float with his dad. Peridot had opted out of going on the mission, saying that she had parts that needed retrieving for her newest devices. In actuality, she was breaking down. Yellow Diamond herself had issued for her and Jasper to return to homeworld, which did not mean that they were going to be "rescued", but rather, punished. Peridot had wandered to the outskirts of Beach city, passing the town's sign with the smiling pigeon on it.

"No. No. No, no, no, no no!" Each step she took was filled with anxiety gripping at her very being. Her fingers floating aimlessly, tearing at her hair and yanking at her uniform. She felt herself being squashed by the pressure of what was occurring.

"Why did I let it drag out so long!? Why didn't I just tell them in the beginning!?" Peridot was frustrated with herself as well.

"Why did I wait this long!? Its been A whole Year. How do I tell them now?" She made a shrugging gesture and raised her arms in the air.

"Oh, hey everybody, how was the mission I didn't go on? Well just so you know there's been a giant forced fusion incubating at the Earth's core and its due for release any day now and remember how Yellow Diamond "wanted me and Jasper to come back?" Well, she doesn't want us back, that was just a threat letting us all know that she'll be here to personally see the Earth's destruction by the cluster, if it hasn't already happened by that point. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I've been specially trained in cluster knowledge and I've known about it this whole time, and that was the main reason that I had joined you guys was for help eliminating the cluster, and I'm just now telling you because I've ran out of appropriate times to tell you." Her voice was trembling. She can't tell them about the cluster now, especially because the leader _is_ a fusion. 

It was dark outside and Peridot had no idea where she was. She pulled out her screen, but then put it away. not ready to return back to the temple yet. It felt good to vent. But she was burning up inside. She wanted to tell somebody instead of just reciting her problems to herself over and over. She was walking along the bend of a road when she tripped on a rock and re steadied herself. 

"Arghhhh! Now I can't even walk properly. Stupid PEBBLE!" She gave the rock a forceful kick, sending it out into the woods next to the road. She heard a loud crack.

"What was that?" Peridot took a step back, gazing into the darkness. She heard thumping drawing closer to her, and uneven footsteps. She heard distorted moans growing louder as the stomping had become closer. She flickered her gem towards where the noise had been coming from.

The darkness was hiding a cluster that had a large, unhinged mouth with jagged teeth and empty eye sockets. It lunged at her and attempted to crunch her, but she had hastily shot an energy pulse at it, sending it flying backwards. Three more replaced it, all gruesome in appearance, followed by a dozen stragglers surrounding Peridot, some more humanoid than the others. 

Peridot began to whirl her fingers to escape, but one had leaped at her, slashing its deformed arm through her chest. Another had ripped Peridot's arm off, another taking a bite at her leg.

Peridot fought off poofing with everything she had. With her remaining arm she summoned her screen and recorded a message.

"Plea--se, H-Elp-- Me-e. My loca---tiOn iS----- Waauuuhg!."

Peridot had poofed with a cloud of green smoke, all caught on video. It was sent to Steven's mini flask robonoid.

Peridot's gem fell in the middle of the pack of clusters.

__________________________________________________________________________

It was morning, and Steven had just woken up and decided to make breakfast. He groggily walked down his steps and into the kitchen. Amethyst was already in the kitchen, eating magnets off the fridge.

"Amethyst!" Steven screamed. Amethyst turned and had a terrified expression on her face until she realized it was Steven.

She swallowed the magnet she had in her mouth. "Sup nerd?"

"Amethyst, those magnets are for holding pictures, not for eating."

"Eh, you can't blame me. They're so tempting, sitting on the _outside_ of the fridge so I don't even need to open the door for a snack."

"Well, can you move, I'm hungry."

Amethyst wiped her hands on her pants and walked away towards her room. Steven opened the fridge and made his meal.

It was noon. Lapis was lounging on the couch, her face buried in pillows. Garnet and Pearl were standing at the sandbar. Amethyst was sitting on a chair next to Pearl, nodding her head during points in the conversation. Steven was looking at the door with Lapis and Peridot's gems on it. 

"Hey guys, what do you think Peridot's working on in there?" Steven asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Whatever it is, I;m sure she's fine." Pearl answered, not even glancing in his direction, still focused on her and Garnet's conversation.

Steven sighed and walked back to his room and grabbed his backpack. "I'm heading out. Anybody else want a donut?" Lapis turned her head and looked at him. She smiled and shook her head and went back to looking into the pillow. The other's hadn't acknowledged his offer. He left the house and walked to the Big Donut.

He stopped walking when he reached the front entrance of the shop. He thought that he had heard a faint beeping noise. He took his bag off as he walked in, and placed it on a table. He unzipped his bag and looked through his stuff.

"Ohohoho, it was just you." He took the robonoid out of his bag. "Play message." the robonoid projected the recording onto the wall and played what had happened the previous night. Steven threw up on the floor.

"Steven! Is that you in there- Steven are you ok?" Sadie had ran to the front desk from the break room. She saw Steven kneeling on the floor and the gruesome recording on the wall, She rushed for the mop and cleaning supplies. She came back out to the dining area and helped Steven into a chair and cleaned up the mess.

Steven ran home after he had refocused himself and showed the gems the message. It was met with horror and confusion.

"Garnet, what _are_ those things?" Pearl asked Garnet, a hand over her mouth.

"No idea." She walked over to the warp pad. "Let's go."

________________________________________________________

Peridot was trapped in a state of splitting agony and restraint. She couldn't move an inch. She had no thoughts. Only Pain. She didn't feel whole, either.

_"Is this what a regeneration is supposed to feel like?_ Peridot was still in her gem. trying to reform. But she couldn't she was stuck. She was nothing.

________________________________________________________

"Steven cover your eyes!" Pearl exclaimed, having layed eyes on Peridot's mauled extensions.

"Garnet, did she poof?"

"That's what had happened in the message. I guess these weren't part of her body." She picked up a scrap of the former extensions. All that were left were scraps of the legs and chunks of the arm. The fingers were gone.

"Uh, guys, where's her gem?" Amethsyt asked, digging through the dirt and moving scraps of limb enhancers.

Lapis clutched her arms. She was speechless, no words coming to mind. She thought of summoning her wings and flying away, but couldn't even manage that.

"She was shattered." was all she could mutter. Disbelief racked throughout her. 

_Why was she even out here?_ Lapis thought, looking into the forest and noticing tracks. She began to run towards them. Pearl looked at her in shock. The tracks had led deep into the woods. The rest of the gems followed Lapis as she sprinted down the trail.

At the end of the trail were deep craters in the ground. Lapis spotted a glimmer in one of the holes. She jumped down into it as the rest of the gems had just caught up to her. 

Lapis hit the ground gracefully, and examined the glimmering object. It was Peridot's gem, with three deep cuts in it, looking like bit marks. She gripped it tight in her hand and looked around her. She was in an underground cavern. Garnet just reached the bottom, followed by Amethyst and Pearl. There were ow grumblings that could be heard in the distance.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl summoned their weapons. Lapis summoned her wings and held tightly onto Peridot's gem. Out of the darkness appeared the cluster with the empty eyes and unhinged jaw, The light from above filtering down upon it. It screamed and Garnet swiftly poofed it with a powerful uppercut. It's gem landed on the ground below them. Garnet bent down to bubble it and noticed it was a fusion of gem shards. She stepped away from her bubble. It began to drift against the wall of the cavern. Before Garnet could think too deeply on it, the rest of the clusters came scurrying into view from the depths of the darkness. Pearl shot energy blasts at them, poofing three, while Amethyst spin dashed into four of them. GArnet sent an electric pulse across the ground, poofing the rest. The ground was littered with glimmering, Frankenstein gemstones. Amethyst and Pearl began to bubble them while Garnet had launched herself out of the cavern with a powerful jump. She sprung up past Steven, knocking him backwards. He had been peering into the holes while he was on the surface. Garnet had walked away from him, grumbling to herself, trembling. Lapis was next to fly out of the crater. Steven had just stood up when she had evacuated the pit. Pearl and Amethyst were last after they had transported the bubbles to the temple.

Garnet was shaking violently, with audible grunts being heard by the rest of the team. There was a flash of light and Ruby and Sapphire had split from it. There were teas streaming down Sapphire's face and Ruby was muttering and tightly gripping her hands. THe two wouldn't look at each other.

"Sapphire, I can't believe you won't agree with me on this. Those were _fused_ gem shards. As in, dead people stitched together."

"I'm not disagreeing with you, I just can't believe it. I don't understand. This had to have been going on for years. And we had no clue about it. _I_ had no clue about it. All these years and I haven;t seen a single one in the futures that I've seen."

"Who cares how long it took, but one things for sure is that it was homeworld." There were marks burned into the ground where Ruby's feet were being placed.

"Did Rose know about this?"

"How should I know? and even if she did, why would she keep it from us?"

"Rose had an innumerable amount of secrets. For all we know, She could have helped homeworld with this."

Ruby spit on the ground. It burned a hole in the earth. "Well, even if she was involved, this isn't acceptable. This isn't what fusion is." Ruby felt dirty.

Lapis handed Steven Peridot's gem. "Can you heal her, like you healed me?"

"I can try." Steven licked the gem, his tongue seeping into the crevices. Nothing happened. He spit at the ground, the taste of the dirty gem disgusting him.

"We need to get her to my mom's fountain."


End file.
